Toy power shovel



June 20, 1950 F. D. MERRILL TOY POWER SHOVEL 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June10, I946 INVENTOR. E D. MERRILL June 20, 1950 F. D. MERRILL TOY POWERSHOVEL FiledJune 10, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 m .W\ In... K

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31;, 5 Q g Q m a \g t o w I Q R q 0 J o c In. Ilillll s $9 I a? m E 5 nh I g I II V k INVENTOR. ED- MERRILL Patented June 20, 1950 UNITEDSTATES OFFICE TOY POWER SHOVEL Frank D. Merrill, Russell, Kans.

Application June 10, 1946, Serial No. 675,583

2 Claims.

My invention herein disclosed relates to a toy power-shovel whosegeneral appearance and movements are intended to simulate a conventionalpower-shovel 'machine, but not from a practical standpoint of actualservice such as shoveling, dredging, excavating, or the like.

A further object of my invention is to place within a casing anelectrically operated motor with automatic means to reverse its action,the ability of which is to simulate motions typical to those of a powershovel machine during its practical service of scooping, raising andlowering the shovel through the medium of a boom rigidly carried by thecasing that is adapted to turn to and fro on a horizontal plane to loadand dump the shovel.

A still further object of my invention is to provide, as traction meansfor the toy, an imitation of a caterpillar tractor; but having wheelsrotating inflexible belts to avoid marring a wellfinished floor as thetoy is being moved thereover from place to place by a cord,.or the like,preparatory to plugging in its motor electric cord for furtheramusement.

These and other objects will hereinafter be more fully explained,referenc being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, and in which like characters will apply to like parts inthe different views.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the toy powershovel.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side view of the toy, parts removed forconvenience of illustration.

Fig. 3 is a top view of the toy, parts removed to illustrate the motivepower arrangement.

Fig. 4 is a rear view of the toy, parts removed to illustrate the rockof the motor.

As a more concise description of the drawings, it willbe seen in Fig. 1,that a casing l is superimposed upon a, portable carrier, said carriercomprising a pair of plates 2, spacedapart and rounded at their ends, atwhich points, spindles 3 aresecured to their respective ends of theplates and on which wheels 4 are journalled, said wheels having aninternally grooved belt 5 extending from wheel to wheel with respect tothe front and rear wheels, said belts preferably being made fromflexible material to simulate the chain of a caterpillar tractor. Saidplates '2 are secured in spaced relation by a pair of rods 6, spacedapart, centrally disposed to the plates, and extending therethrough ascarrying means for a channel member 1, centrally disposed to the firstsaid plates, the legs of said channel memberextending downward and beingbored to receive the rods 5 extending therethrough'said channel memberbeing centrally disposed between said plates 2 and secured by sleeves 8functioning as spacers, the ends of which abut the legs of said channelmember and plates, respectively, while sleeve 8' functions as means toavoid inward deflection of the legs of said channel. It will be seenthat a portion of the channel member legs ex,- tend rearward as at 9 andare secured together by a rod ID, the ends of which abut theirrespective inner sides of the legs to function as an anchor for a pairof cables H and H secured thereto and extending upward for the purposelater described. The web of said channel member 1 has a gear 12 lyingthereon and rigidly secured thereto, and having in mesh therewith apinion 13, the shaft Id of said pinion being vertically extending upwardand being journalled in a suitable bearing l5 that is carried by thesuper-im posed structure, and having means, later described, to rotatethe pinion, by which means the casing or superstructure is turned on theframe as mounted on the portable carrier.

Positioned on gear I2 is a ball bearing comprised of a pair of platesIt, the plates being bored in spaced relation therearound and in whichballs I! are retained, the bores of the plates being funnelled fromtheir abutting sides to form a cavity in which the greater diameter ofthe balls will seat and be retained thereby. The bearing being arrangedas above described will avoid the necessity of races as the plates andgear are axially bored and likewise the web of the channel member onwhich they seat, and having engaging upward therethrough a king pin ill,the head of which is beneath the web of said channel member, while theupper end of the king pin extends through the floor 19 of a gear framestructure that turns thereon and being secured by lock nuts 2|]. Saidgear frame structure is centrally disposed in the casing with respect tothe width and rigidly secured theretoby bolts 2| as shown in Figs. 2 and3. It will be seen in Fig. 2 that the gear frame structure has anupwardly extending frame 22 on each side to function as end bearings forshafts extending therethrough as later described.

Positioned on the floor of the gearing frame structure is an electricmotor 23, rockably carried in working relation to the frames and beingcentrally aligned therebetween and toward the rear end of the floor. Theelectric motor is rockably mounted on the floor through the medium of aclamp structure comprising arcuate jaws 24 and ears 25 oppositelyextending from the jaws and being clamped together by bolts 26, thelower ears of said clamp extending downward and around a pin 21, saidpin being journalled in a pair of cars 28 extending from the floor andsecured by a cotter key 29, whereby the turning axis of the motor isrocked longitudinally of a shaft 30 to engage with a pair of discs 31and Si that are secured to the shaft 30 adjacent its ends as turningmeans therefor by a friction roller 32 secured to the motor shaft 33,and being so arranged, the motor will alternately engage the discs asreversing means for their rotation, while the motor turns in onecontinuous direction. It will be seen in Fig. 4, that the maximumrocking movement of the motor is restricted by the discs, and inco-aotion therewith are springs 34 secured to their respective sides ofthe casing and being substantially on a horizontal plane with theturning axis of the motor to function as a cushion against which themotor will strike but yield sufficiently for the engagement of the discsand friction roller. Furthermore carried by the upper ears of the clampstructure is a floating element consisting of a stud 35 of suitablelength and having a separate weight '36 secured to each end, the weightsbeing in spaced relation so that the stud will slide freely through theapertur at the longitudinal center of the ears, the sliding movementbeing stopped by the weights, at which instance, the rocking movement ofthe motor is intensified while on its movement from a vertical plane toits sides alternately, whereby contact between the friction rolleranddiscs is increased to avoid sliding engagement.

It will be seen in Fig. 3 that the motor is rocked to the right side ofthe toy, in which position its roller is frictionally engaging with theright hand disc 31' to turn shaft 30 that is journalled in the frame 22at its upper extremity. Secured to the shaft 3|] is a pinion 3'1, saidpinion being in mesh with gear 38 that is secured to shaft 39, saidshaft extending from side to side of the frame 22 and being journalledtherein, said shaft 39 having secured thereon a bevel gear 49 as powertransmitting means to another bevel gear M mounted on its shaft l4, saidshaft 14 on its lower end-having secured thereto the pinion is that isin mesh with gear l2 that is stationarily secured to the web of thechannel member i, heretofore described, as turning means for thesuper-imposed structure.

The shaft 39 has a pinion 42 secured hereon that is in mesh with gear 43as turning means for a cable. drum 44, said drum being mounted on ashaft 45 that is journalled between the sides of the gear frames 22'.Said drum has wound thereon a cable 46 that extends forward to a pulley41 that is journalled on the forward end of a boom 48, the boom beingconnected with the floor of said gear frame structure from where itextends upwardlyslanting and anchored by a cable 49 secured adjacent itsouter extremity of said boom and to the top of the casing.

It will be seen that the boom. consists of a pair of beams spaced apartto provide an opening for the stick 50 of a shovel to slidably engagetherebetween and being supported by a roller 52 carried by the beams andon which the stick will engage as the shovel is raised and lowered bythe cable 46, the free end of which is secured to the forward end of theboom and extends downward through a pulley 53 that is centrallyjournalled on the shovel as raising and lowering means therefor as thedrum is turned during reciprocal rotation of the casing as turned on theking pin by the train of gears just described.

To simulate a practical shovel and some of its actions, it will be seenthat the shovel has a rockably connected bottom 54 that pivotablyconnects to the lower end of the stick through the medium of an arm 55that is secured to the back of the bottom 54- and rockably therewith. Toopen the bottom 54 there is provided a lever 56 rockably connected tothe stick as at 51, the lower end of which is rockably connected to thebottom 54 by a link 58, the upper end of the lever being adapted tostrike the underside of the boom as the shovel structure is raised bythe cable, at which time, the lever is rocked forward as indicated byits arrow, drawing the bottom therewith in the direction of its arrow.The above described action is to indicate dumping of the shovel.Retraction of the shovel is accomplished through the medium of a spring59, one end of which is secured to the pivot point where the lever rockson the stick, while the other end is secured to the said arm of thebottom 54 at its lower end, whereby when the shovel is lowered thespring instantly closes the bottom, all of which practically simulatesunloading of the shovel and replacement of its bottom of a practicalmachine. It will be seen that Fig. 1 of they drawing illustrates theshovel pen dantly carried intermediate of its upper and lower maximummovements, while in the rocked position of the motor as shown in Fig. 4,the shovel is being raised, and when the motor is engaged with the disc30 the shovel is lowered; consequently the alternate rock of the casingabove the portable carrier, will cause the shovel to be lowered andraised, to its maximum movement, all of which is due to the geararrangement and the rocking movement of the motor to reverse the gears.

To rock the motor, it will be seen that cables H and II have their uppercorresponding ends oppositely secured to the motor as at A and B whiletheir other ends are oppositely secured to the ends of rod It asheretofore described; consequently as shown in Fig. 4, the rear end ofthe casing is being rocked anti-clockwise, in which case, slack in cableH is taken up, and when tensioned, a further movement of the casingoccurs, and the motor will be rocked in the other direction by saidcable I I, so that the motor roller will engage the other disc toreverse the action of the train of gears and viceversa as the casing isrocked to and fro by pinion l3 in its engagement with gear l2, thelatter being stationarily secured, while the pinion is subject toreversing movements as above described.

It will be understood that during disengagement of the motor on'its pathfrom disc to disc, the casing continues .to move in its establisheddirection under force of momentum to carry the rocking point of themotor across its vertical axis, so that by gravity action, it willcontinue toapproach the discs, selectively, to alternately reverse thegear train movement repeatedly.

Such modifications may be made as lie within the scope of the appendedclaims.

Having fully described my invention-what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A toy power-shovel comprising a carrier and a casing mounted on thecarrier and king pin means securing said casing on said carrier topermit said casing to .turn thereon oscillatably, spaced upright framessecured in said casing, a horizontally positioned rotatable shaftjou'rnalled in said frames, a pair of spaced discs secured on saidshaft, interengaged gear means mounted on said shaft and said carrier asturning means for the casing, a motor having a unidirectional rotatinghorizontal shaft and a roller carried on the motor shaft and driventhereby, a clamp loosely rockably mounted in said casing and the motorsecured thereto above the pivot point to form an overbalanced pivotedsystem with the roller positioned between the pair of discs, and held bythe weight of the system against one of them, the roller engaging thediscs alternately as the motor is rocked from side to side, therebyalternately reversing the direction of rotation of said shaft, and apair of cables having one set of ends secured to laterally opposedportions of the motor housing, the other corresponding ends beingattached to their respective sides of the carrier, whereby the casing isdriven about its king pin relative to the carrier by the motor,

thereby tautening the respective cable, which rocks the motor and rollerout of engagement with one disc and into engagement with the other discto reverse the mechanism.

2. A toy power-shovel as recited in claim 1, a spring carried by thecasing on each side of the motor against which the motor will slightlyengage as shock absorbing means in the motors extreme rocking movements.

FRANK D. MERRILL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 560,129 I-Iarrold et al May 12,1896 1,955,457 Gaver Apr. 1'1, 1934 Sauer Nov. 12, 1935

